“SSACN to talk to senior military staff on shark conservation, tagging and finning”

The Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN www.ssacn.org) have been invited by the prestigious Scuola Lingue Estere dell’Esercito  (Army Foreign Language School) in Perugia Italy to visit the school and deliver talks on Marine Conservation, shark tagging and the highly emotive issue of shark finning.

The request came from students at the School who are learning new languages in order to work in embassies and military establishments abroad and who had been using videos from SSACN’s popular Sharkatag and Tagathon events to help them get an understanding of the variety of our regional accents.

Following a welcome by Brigadier General Gianfranco Di Luzio, Denis Kelly, SSACN’s Secretary will begin a two week long series of talks to several groups of 30 military officers on shark and marine conservation issues relating to Scottish waters as well as participating in a number of other language classes. Such is the level of interest that all the proposed classes are fully booked already.

“We are delighted that the efforts of all those who take part in our Events has created this level of interest” said Denis, “and I would particularly like to thank Professoressa Julie Anne Hobson who has done all the organising to make this venture possible.”

Most sharks serve as top predators at the pinnacle of the marine food pyramid and directly or indirectly, they regulate the natural balance of the ecosystem. The Scottish Shark Tagging Programme (www.tagsharks.com) is SSACN’s long term initiative aimed at gathering the data necessary to help put in place programmes to restore the balance by ensuring the regeneration and long term viability of severely threatened shark stocks in Scottish waters.